Industry & Advocacy News
October 30, 2013
Do you miss the days when BookExpo America changed cities from year to year? Or are you glad it finally settled in at New York’s Javits Center and dread the thought of it returning to its nomadic ways?
Now you can go to BEA’s website and vote on whether the show, which is set to move to Chicago for 2016, stays permanently in the Big Apple after it returns. Your choices:
Yes, NYC makes BEA more compelling and delivers more value.
NYC is important, but it should be every other or every 3rd year.
NO, NYC is too expensive and difficult.
NO, BEA would perform better by traveling to new cities every year.
Note the poll doesn’t let you suggest a location. And show director Steve Rosato makes it clear (extremely clear) in a blog post that some cities just aren’t BEA contenders.
“Suffice to say – BEA Orlando, BEA Dallas, BEA Atlanta – well I will start looking at prison camps first. All great cities in their own right, but not cities that BEA exhibitors or attendees would seek as a destination.”
So, no combining trips to BEA and Disneyland. But good new for fans of Boston: It’s “on the list of cities to see if we can make it work,” Rosato said in the comments section of the blog.
There are 14 days left to cast a vote. Rosato, who writes at length about the advantages of New York (accessibility, abundance of media, venue size), makes no guarantee that the majority will prevail. But so far the poll confirms his preference, with results running heavily in favor of keeping the the show in New York all or part of the time.
